Pleiades Star Cluster: Messier 45 | Constellation Guide by admin The Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45 , is a famous open star cluster located in Taurus constellation . The brightest stars in the cluster represent the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters in Greek mythology, and their parents, the nymph Pleione and the Titan Atlas. Messier 45 is one of the nearest star clusters to Earth. Its brightest stars lie at a distance between 390 and 460 light years. The cluster is mostly composed of hot, blue, highly luminous stars belonging to the spectral class B with an estimated age under 100 million years. The Pleiades (pronunciation: /ˈplaɪ.ədiːz/ or /ˈpliːədiːz/) star cluster is about 110 arcminutes in size and has an apparent magnitude of 1.6. It is the easiest star cluster to find in the sky, mainly because of its brightness and size, and it is well known in many different cultures and mythologies. The earliest images of the Pleiades cluster date all the way back to the Bronze Age.

PLEIADES STAR CLUSTER FACTS AND LOCATION The Pleiades (Messier 45). Image: Rawastrodata The Pleiades cluster contains more than 1,000 stars, not including unresolved spectroscopic binary stars. Up to 14 stars in the cluster are visible to the naked eye in good viewing conditions. The estimated mass of the cluster is equal to 800 solar masses. M45 also contains a significant number of brown dwarfs; they are believed to constitute up to 25 percent of all the stars in the cluster, but as they generally have less than 8 percent of the Sun’s mass, the brown dwarfs in M45 contribute less than 2 percent to the total mass of the cluster. The cluster has a tidal radius of approximately 43 light years, and the core radius is about 8 light years. The brightest stars in the Pleiades cluster are surrounded by a faint reflection nebula, sometimes known as the Maia Nebula (NGC 1432), after one of the Seven Sisters. The nebula is a cloud of dust illuminated by the hot, luminous stars in the cluster, which are currently passing through the nebulosity.

The estimated age of the cluster is between 75 and 150 million years. The stars are gravitationally bound and are moving in the direction of Orion ’s feet. Messier 45 will exist for another 250 million years or so, after which the stars will disperse as a result of interaction with other stars, molecular clouds, and the spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. The cluster appears prominently in the sky in winter in the northern hemisphere and in summer in southern latitudes. It is located to the west-northwest of Aldebaran , the brightest star in Taurus , and pretty easy to find on a clear night. The Seven Sisters are most prominent between October and April. In early November, the cluster rises in the east after sunset. In February it lies overhead in the evening. In May, it sets at sunset, before Orion . As the cluster lies near the ecliptic (the Sun’s path across the sky), it can’t be seen in May and June, because it is located too close to the Sun. When M45 is directly overhead, it can be found by following the line from Orion’s Belt.

Merope Nebula The Pleiades cluster also contains the Merope Nebula (NGC 1435), a diffuse reflection nebula 30’ in size, suspected to be a supernova remnant. The nebula is also known as Tempel’s Nebula, after Wilhelm Tempel, the German astronomer who discovered it on October 19, 1859. The Merope Nebula surrounds the star Merope and has a visual magnitude of 13. Reflection nebula IC 349 near Merope in the Pleiades. Image: NASA The Merope Nebula contains IC 349, a small bright knot , 0.5’ in diameter, which is an extension of the larger NGC 1435. IC 349 is sometimes also known as Barnard’s Merope Nebula because it was discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard in November 1890. It is located 36 arcseconds (0.06 light years) to the southwest of the star Merope.

M45 has been known since ancient times in cultures across the globe, including the Chinese, the Japanese, the Persians, the Māori , the Maya, the Cherokee, the Aztec, the Sioux, and the Aboriginal Australians. The Japanese mentioned it as Mutsuraboshi, which means “six stars,” in documents dating back to the 8th century. They also know it as Subaru, meaning “coming together” or “cluster.” (An image of the cluster is used in the car company’s logo.) The cluster is mentioned in the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible and the Quran among other texts. It was called MUL.MUL, meaning “the star of stars,” in Babylonian star catalogues. The earliest depiction of the cluster appears on the Nebra sky disk, an artefact dating back to 1600 BC, the Bronze Age. In Hindu mythology, the cluster is associated with Murugan, the war god, who was raised by six sisters and developed six faces, one of each of his mothers. The Aztecs based their calendar on the cluster; the Pleiades’ rising in the east before dawn marked the beginning of their year.

The heliacal rising of the cluster in June also marked the beginning of the year for the Māori of New Zealand. Pleiades (Messier 45) Coordinates: 03h47m24s (right ascension), +24°07’ (declination) Distance: 390 – 460 light years Apparent dimensions: 110 arcminutes Other designations: Messier 45 (M45), Melotte 22 STARS Hubble’s look through the Pleiades (M45). Image: NASA, ESA and AURA, Caltech The brightest stars in the Pleiades cluster are Alcyone (Eta Tauri or 25 Tauri), Atlas (27 Tauri), Electra (17 Tauri), Maia (20 Tauri), Merope (23 Tauri), Taygeta (19 Tauri), Pleione (28 Tauri or BU Tauri), Celaeno (16 Tauri), Sterope (21 and 22 Tauri), and 18 Tauri.

Alcyone Alcyone (pronunciation: /ælˈsaɪ.əniː/) has a visual magnitude of 2.873 and belongs to the stellar class B7IIIe. The star is about 370 light years distant from Earth. It is the brightest of the Seven Sisters and the third brightest star in Taurus constellation , after Aldebaran , Alpha Tauri, and Elnath, Beta Tauri. Alcyone is classified as an eclipsing binary star. The primary component is a blue-white giant star (B7IIIe) 2,400 times more luminous than the Sun and with ten times the solar radius. The star has a projected rotational velocity of 215 km/s, which makes it a very fast spinner, and as a result it is surrounded by a gas disk at the equator. The binary companion is separated by 0.031 arcseconds. The eclipsing binary system has three companions: two 8th magnitude white main sequence stars belonging to the spectral class A, one of which is classified as a Delta Scuti variable, and a yellow-white, class F dwarf.

Atlas Atlas, named after the Seven Sisters’ father, is the second brightest star in the cluster. It is a triple star system with the stellar classification of B8III. It has a visual magnitude of 3.62 and is approximately 381 light years distant from Earth. The Atlas system contains a spectroscopic binary star, with individual components too close to be resolved. The stars have apparent magnitudes of 4.1 and 5.6 and orbit each other with a period of 1,250 days. The binary star has another companion, a faint star with a visual magnitude of 6.8, separated by 0.4 seconds of arc. Electra Electra is another blue-white giant star in the Pleiades cluster. It belongs to the stellar class B6 IIIe. With an apparent magnitude of 3.705, it is the third brightest star in M45. It is about 600 light years distant from Earth. Electra is another fast spinner. It has a projected rotational velocity of 181 km/s.

As a consequence, it is stretched at the equator and flattened at the poles, and because of the mass loss caused by its rapid spinning, the star is surrounded by a disk of gas and emits excess infrared radiation. Maia Maia is also a blue-white giant star. It has the stellar classification of B8III. It has an apparent magnitude of 3.871 and is about 360 light years distant from Earth. It is one of the stars surrounded by the emission/reflection nebula NGC 1432, also known as the Maia Nebula. Maia has a mass four times that of the Sun, 5.5 times the solar radius, and is about 660 times more luminous than the Sun. It is classified as a mercury-manganese star. Merope Merope (pronunciation: /ˈmɛrəpiː/) is a blue-white subgiant with the stellar classification of B6IVev. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.113 and is approximately 360 light years distant from Earth. Star Merope (23 Tau) in Pleiades (M45).

Image: Henryk Kowalewski The star is 4.5 times more massive than the Sun and about 630 times more luminous. It has a radius four times that of the Sun. Merope is a Beta Cephei type variable. Its brightness varies by 0.01 magnitudes. It is the central star in the Merope Nebula , a nebula through which the Pleiades cluster is currently passing. The nebula looks brightest around Merope, which is why it was named after the star. Taygeta Taygeta (pronunciation: /teɪˈɪdʒɨtə/) is a triple star in the cluster. It has the stellar classification of B6V, matching a blue-white main sequence dwarf. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.29 and is about 440 light years distant from Earth. The primary component in the system is a spectroscopic binary star whose components have visual magnitudes of 4.6 and 6.1. The two stars are separated by 0.012 arcseconds and have an orbital period of 1,313 days.

The binary star has an 8th magnitude companion which is separated by 69 seconds of arc. Pleione Pleione (pronunciation: /ˈplaɪ.əniː/) is a double star belonging to the stellar class B8IVpe. It has a visual magnitude of 5.048 and is about 392 light years distant from Earth. The star is not easy to see without binoculars because it lies close to Atlas, which is 3.7 times brighter. The two stars are separated by less than 5 minutes of arc. Pleione is a hot blue star with a mass 3.4 times that of the Sun and a radius 3.2 times solar. It is significantly smaller than the other bright stars in the cluster. It is about 190 times more luminous than the Sun and it spins close to its breakup velocity, at 329 km/s. The star is classified as a Gamma Cassiopeiae variable and has the variable designation BU Tauri. Its brightness varies from magnitude 4.8 to 5.5.

Gamma Cassiopeiae variables, also known as shell stars, are fast spinning stars surrounded by a disk of gas at the equator. They exhibit irregular changes in luminosity as a result of the outflow of matter. Pleione is known to be a spectroscopic binary star, with components that cannot be resolved because they are separated by only 0.2 seconds of arc. The two stars in the system have an orbital period of 218 days. Celaeno Celaeno (pronunciation: /sɨˈliːnoʊ/) is sometimes known as the Lost Pleiad because it often cannot be seen without binoculars. In less than ideal observing conditions, stargazers can only see six of the Seven Sisters and Celaeno is missing. The star is a blue-white subgiant belonging to the stellar class B7IV. It has a visual magnitude of 5.45 and is about 430 light years distant from Earth. It has about 9-10 solar masses and a radius 4.4 times that of the Sun. It is another fast spinner in the cluster, with a projected rotational velocity of 185 km/s. Pleiades stars.

Image: Ville Koistinen at fi.wikipedia Sterope (Asterope) Sterope, or Asterope (pronunciation: /ˈstɛrɵpiː/, or /əˈstɛrɵpiː/), is a name shared by two stars, designated 21 and 22 Tauri, separated by 0.04° in the sky. 21 Tauri has the stellar classification of B8V, which makes it a blue main sequence dwarf. It has a visual magnitude of 5.76 and is about 440 light years distant from Earth. 22 Tauri belongs to the stellar class A0Vn. It is a white main sequence dwarf, also about 440 light years distant. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 6.43. 18 Tauri 18 Tauri, not associated with a mythical figure or given a proper name, is a blue-white main sequence dwarf belonging to the stellar class B8V. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 5.65 and is also one of the brightest stars in the cluster.

PLEIADES MYTH In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of Pleione, a sea nymph, and the Titan Atlas. The seven nymphs were sisters to the Hesperides and the Hyades , and they were companions of the goddess Artemis. Their name was derived either from their mother’s name, Pleione, or from the Greek πλεῖν, which means “to sail,” in reference to the nymphs’ role in delimiting the sailing season. The seven sisters were Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope and Merope. The Pleiades by Elihu Vedder, 1885 The Pleiades were very well known in Greek culture. The Hecatompedon temple and the Parthenon were oriented to their rising. In Greek mythology, when Atlas was tasked with carrying the heavens on his shoulders as punishment for siding with the Titans in their war against Olympian gods, the hunter Orion started pursuing his daughters in his absence and Zeus turned the sisters first into doves and then into stars to protect them from the hunter’s advances. The constellation Orion , it is said, still pursues the Seven Sisters across the sky.

The Pleiades were also pursued by several Olympians, to whom they bore children who grew up to be prominent figures in Greek mythology. Maia, the eldest of the seven sisters, had an affair with Zeus which resulted in the birth of their son Hermes, who later became the messenger of the gods. Electra and Taygete also had children by Zeus. Electra gave birth to Dardanus and Iasion, and Taygete was mother to Lacedaemon. Dardanus founded the city of Dardania on Mount Ida on the Hellespont. The strait’s modern-day name, the Dardanelles, was derived from his name. Dardanus’ son Tros’ name is the origin of the name of the region Troad, and Tros’ son Ilus founded the city of Ilium, more commonly known as Troy. Iasion established the mystic rites on Samothrace and had twin sons with the goddess Demeter. Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt after realizing the two had an affair. Lacedaemon ruled the country which he named after himself, also naming the capital after his wife, Sparta. Alcyone and Celaeno both had children by Poseidon.

Alcyone gave birth to Hyrieus (father of Orion according to some sources), Hyperenor (who co-founded the cities Hyperea and Anthea) and Aethusa (Apollo’s lover, after whom the portico open to the sun was named), and Celaeno was mother to Lycus and Eurypylus. Sterope had a child with Ares. Oenomaus, their son, was the king of Pisa and the father of Hippodamia. Fearful of a prophecy that said he would be killed by his son-in-law, Oenomaus killed a number of his daughter’s suitors in a chariot race. Hippodamia eventually married Pelops, and their offspring included Agamemnon, Menelaus, Atreus, Thyestes, Aegisthus, and Orestes. Merope, the youngest Pleiad, married Sisyphus and bore him several sons. IMAGES The Pleiades is an open cluster consisting of approximately 3,000 stars at a distance of 400 light-years (120 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation Taurus.

(It also known as “The Seven Sisters”, or the astronomical designations NGC 1432/35 and M45.) Image: NASA, ESA, AURA, Caltech, Palomar Observatory Pleiades (M45, Seven Sisters) open cluster – infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope The Pleiades in X-rays, taken by ROSAT. The brightest objects in X-rays have the hottest coronas. The green squares mark the positions of the seven optically brightest stars. Image: NASA VIDEO Behind The Subaru Logo: What Do The Six Stars Stand For? Behind The Subaru Logo: What Do The Six Stars Stand For? 9 months ago by Clara Kent Subaru Logo Subaru is the first car maker to ever use a Japanese word as its name, but it is the logo meaning that has never ceased to amaze Subaru adorers and car enthusiasts. The Japanese renowned car maker is the automobile manufacturing division of the Japanese giant company “FujiHeavy Industries (FHI)”. Subaru has established a strong worldwide presence using its iconic six-star badge that has remained almost unchanged over the years.

Those six seemingly randomly-placed silver shiny stars on a blue background in an oval shaped logo hold a deep meaning, which not many car enthusiasts are familiar with. Subaru Logo History In 1953, five Japanese companies, including Subaru, joined forced and created the giant company named FujiHeavy Industries. The word “Subaru” is not a common Japanese word, but it is the name of a cluster of stars in the Taurus constellation. This constellation is also known as “Pleiades”, while the stars “Messier 45”. Translated to English, “Subaru” means “united” or “to unite” in Japanese, which is symbolic of FHI, as it is consisted of united companies. While the Pleiades is consisted of seven stars that, according to the Greek mythology, were the daughters of Atlas and Pleione, Subaru used only 6 stars in its logo. Each of the 5 small stars represents a manufacturing division of FHI and the biggest star represents the union of these companies, FHI. The reason why the seventh star is left out is that it isn’t. It is actually included on the Subaru logo, but it is an invisible star.

Pleiades is nearest to the planet Earth and its stars can be seen with a naked eye during night. When it comes to style, the six-stars Subaru logo has come a long way after its original design back in 1953. While the presence of the iconic six stars has always been the key element of the famous logo, the Subaru symbol has changed the position of the stars and the background color multiple times. The background of Subaru logo has been hot blue most of the years, as the Pleiades stars are of the same color. The background has been painted in transparent and red, before it was finally painted in blue. The six stars symbolize Subaru’s incredible consistency and commitment. Today, the six shiny stars of Subaru logo are perfectly positioned; the big one stands to the upper left and the five smaller ones come in different sizes on the right. Connected in couples and all combined on a hot blue oval-shaped background, outlined with an elegant silver color, this one is definitely among the most attractive car logos ever designed. More: Look up! The Pleiades | PenBay Pilot Look up!

The Pleiades Friday, April 22, 2016 - 4:30am Share: By Elihu Vedder, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. The Pleiades, an open cluster consisting of approximately 3,000 stars at a distance of approximately 400 light-years (120 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation of Taurus. It is also known as "The Seven Sisters," or the astronomical designations NGC 1432/35 and M45. The most noted star cluster in our sky is the Pleiades, a bright little group of many stars found in the constellation Taurus that is often mistaken for the Little Dipper. Indeed, it is a more obvious and visible set of stars than the Little Dipper, and is certainly, in my opinion, more interesting. The Pleiades were first mentioned in Chinese annals around 2,300 BCE, and were referred to by Hesiod, by Homer in The Odyssey, in the Koran, and in the Book of Job in the Bible, among many other works throughout history; most cultures have some sort of story about the Pleiades.

The stars' rising was often noted as a seasonal calendar marker, as well. In Greek mythology the Pleiades were sisters, the seven daughters of the god Atlas, the big guy who carried the world on his shoulders, and Pleione, a water nymph: Alcyone, Maia, Electra, Merope, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Sterope. Their collective name has been said to derive from, most obviously, their mother's name, or the start of the Mediterranean sailing season indicated by their rising in spring (sustaining the association with their mother's name, as she was considered a protector of sailors), or, simply, a word meaning "many." As the story so often goes, the luminous sisters became stars as a result of attempted rape. When the famous hunter (and apparent womanizer) Orion pursued them (all seven of them?), Zeus heeded their cries for help by turning them into a flock of doves, and then placing them in the night sky for added safety.

(When studying Greek mythology and its associated star stories, it's difficult to avoid imposing a feminist judgment on the many rapes and attempted rapes that seem to form the basis for so much Western culture and literature.) The poor girls continue to be pursued each night by Orion in his stellar form. Locating the Pleiades in the night sky is, in fact, easy if you first find the highly recognizable constellation Orion. Look slightly "ahead" of him (to his upper right) for a bright cloud of stars very close together. Also nearby is another notable star cluster, the Hyades, who were sisters of the Pleiades. They form the v-shaped head of the constellation Taurus the Bull, of which the most visible star is the bull's red eye, Aldebaran. The Pleiades form the bull's shoulder or tail. Relatively close to us in astronomical terms, the cluster's brighter stars range from 240 - 590 light years away. While referred to as the Seven Sisters, only six are eminently visible to the average observer. Various stories explain what happened to the seventh sister, indicating that at one time seven stars were probably visible. Alcyone is the brightest of these.

At least three more stars may be visible to those with very good eyesight (accounted for as the seven sisters and their parents), and hundreds more can be seen using binoculars or a home telescope. Several cultures around the world have traditionally used the cluster as a vision test of sorts--the more stars you can pick out, the keener your eyes. Most commonly depicted by peoples around the world as a group of women or girls, the star cluster has also been described as a hen with her chicks, a circle of dancers, a herd of caribou, crying children, a bunch of nuts or seeds, and a litter of puppies. A Polynesian myth says that the Pleiades were once a single star, brightest in the sky, but it boasted so much of its beauty that one of the gods smashed it into little bits. Therein lies a morality tale for which the stars become a touchstone. Despite the fact that the Pleiades set relatively early this time of year, here in Maine we see them year-round in broad daylight on the logo that graces the front grill of every Subaru car.

The six stars that make up the distinctive Subaru logo are the six visible Pleiades, as well as symbols of the companies that merged to form Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries. The blue background represents the actual color of the stars. As the poet Tennyson so evocatively described, the Pleiades "glitter like a swarm of fireflies, tangled in a silver braid." The nebulous haze that often blurs the stars of the Pleiades makes it seem as if they are young stars still emerging from the cloudy caul of their creation. In fact, astronomers have learned that while the stars are indeed relatively young as stars go, the cloud of dust and gases around them is unrelated to their birth. They just happen to be passing through it in space. When it comes to the celestial perspective, everything's relative. Kristen Lindquist is an amateur naturalist and published poet who lives in her hometown of Camden. Orion Telescopes: Winter's Beauty Mark: The Pleiades Cart (0) Winter's Beauty Mark: The Pleiades In winter, even just a casual glance at the sky will register the Pleiades star cluster.

For northern hemisphere observers, the cluster is like winter's beauty mark, arriving with the darkening months and sitting high in the constellation Taurus, preceding the bright red star Aldebaran across the sky. It is easy to find, and punctuates the end of a beautiful sweep of stars beginning in Perseus with first magnitude Mirfak, along the eastern leg of the constellation. The Pleiades rises in the east. This eye-catching cluster is quite young by astronomical standards, having emerged from the Merope Nebula within the last 100 million years, and some estimate it is as young as 20 million years, meaning it did not shine in the skies when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The cluster is our close neighbor, about 380 light years distant in our local arm of the Milky Way galaxy, and has about an 8 light year diameter. For perspective, only Alpha Centauri and Sirius are bright stars within 8 light years of Earth.

As Walter Scott Houston said of the Pleiades, "Even on the coldest of winter nights, when time spent at the telescope is better measured in minutes than hours, it would be a very un-amateur act not to look in on the Pleiades." The cluster makes an excellent target for binoculars or a wide-field telescope, but require nearly two degrees to see all members in one field of view. The nebulosity is fleeting, and can be faintly glimpsed under excellent conditions, primarily around the star for which the nebula is named, Merope (the bottom star in the image below). In Deep Sky Wonders, Walter Scott Houston wrote of this fleeting nebulosity, saying: "On an ordinary night, there are usually a few wisps of nebulosity seen around the Pleiad Merope. But on really exceptional nights (or more likely, half hours), the glow swells out to encompass the entire cluster in a big cocoon." Charles Messier catalogued the Pleiades as Messier 45, or M45, but he was not the first to notice the Pleiades. The cluster goes by many names, and its fame crosses many cultures.

Ancient Greeks called it The Seven Sisters and the Japanese call it "Subaru" - you can see it as the logo of the car company. Ancient Persians used "Soraya" - which was also the name of the former Iranian empress. The British and Germans called it the Chick with Hens. Many people today see it, and mistake it for the Little Dipper. Perhaps we should refer to it as The Littlest Dipper? There are many variations, but the cluster is part of human records reaching as far back as Babylonia. It was mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, referenced three times in the Bible, shows up in the Quran and in ancient Hindu mythology as well. This may be history's most famous star cluster! Bright Members of the Pleiades in the Merope Nebula. On average, the naked eye sees the six brightest stars of the cluster. I've read reports of people counting up to fourteen members, naked-eye. My best is nine. The above chart shows the brightest members and magnitudes. How many can you see? Make a sketch then come back and compare it to the chart.

Despite the number of stars you're able to see, remember this: the cluster is actually comprised of over 1,000 confirmed members with a "tidal radius" of around 43 light years and total mass of around 800 suns. That's a big group of stars! The Pleiades is an open cluster. Open clusters are comprised of young star systems. There are thousands of examples of these throughout our own Milky Way galaxy. They tend to occur in the spiral arms of galaxies, as that's where star formation is predominant. In your pair of binoculars or telescope, you can see hundreds of open clusters, varying greatly in size, shape, density and brightness. Some, like the Pleiades, do not require anything other than your eyes and interest to see them. The Hyades in Taurus is an example of an older dispersing open cluster that can be seen without a telescope, as are the stars around Mirfak in Perseus. The stars of The Big Dipper are a highly dispersed old open cluster. Like children, growing up in their family home (their nebula, per se), the stars of open cluster eventually disperse - and move on, to new homes across our night skies.

The winter Milky Way is a fine sight, with many bright stars against a black background. The Pleiades are a jewel among them. Beautiful at the casual gaze, spectacular in almost any astronomical instrument, and should you try to discern the nebula, a challenge as well. Even on the coldest nights, take a few minutes to go outside and enjoy the great sight of Winter's Littlest Dipper. Clear skies, Mark Constellation chart courtesy Starry Night Pro - sold by Orion Telescopes and Binoculars. Pleiades image from the Digital Sky Survey. Pleiades detail chart from The Sky software. Winter Star Clusters Dot Milky Way Like Ornaments Winter Star Clusters Dot Milky Way Like Ornaments By Geoff Gaherty Starry Night Education | December 2, 2013 02:59pm ET MORE Looking eastward in mid-evening, you can see the band of the Milky Way decorated with numerous clusters of stars in the winter 2013 night sky. Credit: Starry Night Software Now that autumn is fading into winter, the beautiful winter Milky Way is coming into view in the eastern sky.

Though you need a dark country sky to see the Milky Way itself, even the city-bound stargazer can view many of the star clusters that decorate it like ornaments on a Christmas tree. Stars are not born in isolation. Usually they form as a group within a cloud of gas and dust. For instance, such a star cluster is forming in the Orion Nebula , where the newly born stars and the nebula from which they form are visible simultaneously. Later in a star cluster's history, the gas and dust has dissipated, leaving a naked cloud of newborn stars. Some of these newborn clusters are so close to Earth that they can easily be seen with the naked eye. The most famous of these is called the Pleiades, named after seven sisters in Greek mythology. This is the most easily spotted deep-sky object, and was noticed by many different cultures, each of which developed their own mythology around them. For example, in Japan this cluster is known as Subaru, and gives its name to a giant telescope in Hawaii and a line of automobiles. Look closely at the logo on a Subaru car, and you will see the brightest stars of the Pleiades.

[ See Amazing Night Sky Photos by Stargazers: November 2013 ] It is odd that the Pleiades are sometimes called "the seven sisters," because most people can see only six stars in this cluster. This is probably a case of reality being adjusted to fit the legend, with seven being a much more interesting number than six. Binoculars reveal hundreds more fainter stars in this cluster. Though they look serene and silent from our vantage on Earth, stars are actually roiling balls of violent plasma. Test your stellar smarts with this quiz. Start Over | More Quizzes The Pleiades lie 410 light-years away from the sun, and are easily visible because their stars are bright and closely packed. But they are not the nearest star cluster; that honor goes to the Hyades, only 150 light-years away. Because they are nearer, the Hyades are appear to be spread across a wider area of sky, so they are not as obvious as the Pleiades. They are best appreciated in a dark country sky, or through binoculars . The jewel in the Hyades is the red giant star Aldebaran.

Its presence in the Hyades is an accident of perspective, since it is actually much closer to Earth than the cluster itself, only 65 light-years away. It just happens to lie in our line of sight, slightly less than half the distance to the Hyades. With ordinary binoculars, there are many more star clusters in this part of the sky awaiting observers' discovery. Star clusters are the easiest deep-sky objects for the beginner to see, and provide fine views in binoculars and small telescopes even in light-polluted city skies. Several such clusters are associated with the constellation Perseus . In fact, most of the brightest stars in this constellation, surrounding the star Mirfak, are part of another nearby cluster 600 light-years away, named simply "the Perseus Cluster." Perseus is also the home of the beautiful Double Cluster, two clusters located close together in the sky but lying at different distances from Earth, 7,000 and 8,100 light-years away. It's surprising that Charles Messier missed these bright clusters in his catalog, while catching the much less prominent Messier 34 cluster. Auriga is another constellation rich in open clusters.

Messier catalogued three of the brightest as numbers 36 through 38. All of these make fine sights in a small telescope, and are easily located because they are close to the brilliant star Capella. Just below these, at the feet of the Gemini twins is Messier 35, one of the finest telescopic sights in the sky. While the dedicated observer will seek out and identify these individual gems, even the most casual skygazer can simply sweep along the Milky Way with binoculars and enjoy this treasure trove of celestial jewels. Start just to the right of Jupiter, and follow the Milky Way upward to Perseus, high overhead. This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education , the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Follow Starry Night on Twitter @StarryNightEdu . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on SPACE.com . The Pleiades | Creative Space Creative Space Astronomy outreach and public engagement Menu by Melanie Davies Bringing a little sparkle to autumn nights The Pleiades is an open star cluster in the constellation of Taurus.

This enigmatic group of stars is known by many names; the Seven Sisters, Messier 45, and Melotte 22 to name but a few. The Pleiades rise in the east just after sunset from the beginning of November, rising slightly earlier each night throughout autumn and winter. The Pleiades appear in star maps as far back as 15,000 BC. The Lascaux Caves in south west France, discovered in 1940, depict an astonishingly accurate map of the heavens from the Upper Palaeolithic Period. Some of the best preserved paintings were found in the ‘Hall of Bulls’ and clearly show the constellation of Taurus, the Pleiades, and the Hyades – another open star cluster near the ‘eye of Taurus’. The Pleiades have evoked fear and wonder throughout human history, being the focus of myths, legends and folklore around the world. Aboriginal Dreamtime mythology from Australia tells the story of ‘Star Dreaming’ – a very similar tale to those from Ancient Greece. And in New Zealand, the Pleiades are called ‘Matariki’.

In the Māori language, Matariki is both the name of the star cluster and also of the season of its first rising around the winter solstice, signalling the Māori New Year. It is marked by the flying of kites, lighting of lanterns, and the celebration of new life. In Aztec culture, the Pleiades were known as ‘Tianquitzli’. They had a major significance for time keeping and disaster avoidance! (The word ‘disaster’ comes from the Latin ‘dis-astro’, meaning misalignment of heavenly bodies.) The Aztec calendar used a 52-year cycle and was based on the opposition of Tianquitzli – time was measured using the movements of the star cluster and the Sun. At midnight at the end of every 52-year cycle, the Aztecs performed a human sacrifice to please their gods and to ensure the continued movement of the heavens. They believed that if the Pleiades failed to continue their movement across the sky, the end of the world would ensue! The Subaru badge, featuring the Pleiades cluster. Credit: Subaru In Japan, the word for the Pleiades is Subaru, meaning ‘gather together’ or ‘cluster’.

The Japanese car manufacturer adopted this word as their trade name and incorporated six of the visible stars within their logo. The stars represent the five companies (small stars) that merged into one (large star) to form Fuji Heavy Industries – Subaru’s parent company. But the best known stories are from Ancient Greece, where the Pleiades represented the seven daughters of Atlas the Titan and Pleione the sea nymph. The most commonly told myth has it that while Atlas was busy holding the world on his shoulders, the mortal hunter, Orion, took a fancy to his beautiful daughters and chased them across the land. Zeus, ruler of the Titans, took pity on Atlas and turned the siblings first into doves, and later set them in the sky as glittering stars. Orion was later killed and placed in the sky, forever chasing the ‘Seven Sisters’. The Dance of the Pleiades by Elihu Vedder, 1885, symbolising the Greek myth about the Seven Sisters. Credit: Elihu Vedder The Seven Sisters is one of the closest open clusters to Earth at about 440 lightyears away.

Light travels six trillion miles in one year, so as a measure of distance, 440 lightyears seems a long way off, but for an open cluster, its fairly close. Looking at the stars today, we are effectively looking back in time, seeing them as they appeared 440 years ago. Because of this relatively close proximity, it has been the subject of much scientific study. When telescope technology allowed close-up views of the individual stars, they were discovered to be surrounded by a veil of nebulosity – a cloud of gas and dust which appeared to shroud some of the brightest stars. Early research suggested that these stellar clouds were the remains of a starbirth nebula from which they formed. More recent studies have determined the nebula to be unrelated to the stars, and to be a cosmic fluke of nature. The star cluster is slowly moving towards the constellation of Orion, and it just happens to be interacting with this nebula on its way through. The cluster is 125 million years old – making the stars relatively young by stellar standards. The stars are mostly hot blue giants with temperatures of around 20,000˚C.

Which, compared to our Sun (at an average 5,500˚C), is positively roasting! 125 million years ago, the Pleiades are thought to have looked very much like the Orion Nebula as we see it now – one of the best known stellar nurseries in the process of producing new stars from the remnant of a supernova explosion. A recent census, carried out earlier this year, revealed the group to contain over 2000 stars – a much higher number than previously thought. The stars are bound together because of gravity, but in about 250 million years time, the stars will have drifted away from each other and will no longer be the closely packed, sparkling lights that adorn the autumn and winter skies of today. This will happen because of interaction with other stars and giant gas clouds nearby, kicking out individual stars and dispersing the group. If you’re not sure how to find the Pleiades, look out for Orion’s Belt (visible from about 10pm at the beginning of November) and follow an imaginary line almost straight upwards until you find a bright, slightly orange star called Aldebaran (the eye of Taurus the Bull).

Then continue upwards, but this time arching slightly to your right, and you’ll soon come to the Pleiades cluster. Under normal conditions, you can expect to see about six of the brightest stars in the group. But if you’re lucky enough to have dark skies and very good visibility, you might see as many as 12 (you’ll need good eye sight to see that many though). They are best viewed through binoculars or a small telescope, when hundreds of stars become visible. © Melanie Davies 2015 Stanley Subaru | What Does the Subaru Logo Mean? What Are The Origins of The Subaru Logo? How did Subaru come up with their logo? What does the Subaru emblem mean? Stanley Subaru answers these questions about the Subaru logo below: Subaru is the automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate FujiHeavy Industries (FHI).

Subaru is internationally known for their use of the Boxer engine layout similar to those in cars like the Volkswagen Beetle and Porche 911, in most of their vehicles above 1500 cc as well as their use of the all wheel drive drive-train layout, the 4x4 first introduced in 1972, and the AWD became standard equipment for mid-size and smaller cars in most international markets as of 1996, and is now standard in all US market Subaru vehicles. The lone exception is the BRZ introduced in 2012, utilizing RWD. They also offer many turbocharged versions of their passenger cars, such as the Impreza WRX. Subaru 1500, top; 1958 Subaru 360. FujiHeavy Industries , the parent company of Subaru, is currently in a partial partnership with ToyotaMotor Corporation , which owns 16.5% of FHI. Subaru is the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, which in turn inspires the Subaru logo and alludes to the five companies that merged to create FHI.

The word "subaru" means "united" in Japanese, and Fuji Heavy Industries has used the term to describe how the Pleiades constellation is a unification of the stars. Fuji Heavy Industries is therefore a constellation of companies united together. In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier Object 45, or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-Type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. Pleiades has several meanings in different cultures and traditions . The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebula around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternate name Maia Nebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium that the stars are currently passing through.

Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood. The nine brightest stars of the Pleiades are named for the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology : Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone, along with their parents Atlas and Pleione. As daughters of Atlas, the Hyades were sisters of the Pleiades. The English name of the cluster itself is of Greek origin, though of uncertain etymology. Suggested derivations include: from pleîn, to sail, making the Pleiades the "sailing ones"; from pleos, full or many; or from peleiades , flock of doves. Phenomenica , an online encyclopedia of Mysteries, Phenomena, Ancient History and Science, describes the Greek mythological origins of Pleiades: "There is nothing else like the Pleiades star cluster in the sky. Few observers can look very long at the night sky at this time of year without noticing the Pleiades stars and wondering what they really are.

The traditional Greek legend for the Seven Sisters - as this cluster has long been known - is that they are the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Their father, Atlas, rebelled against Zeus, the king of the gods, who retaliated by sentencing him to forever holding up the heavens on his shoulders. This so grieved the sisters that Zeus placed them in the heavens so that they could be close to their father. Interestingly, widely separated and totally different cultures have always described the Pleiades as the "Seven Sisters," "Seven Maidens," or "Seven Little Girls." Yet, only six stars are readily visible to most observers. Those with more acute eyesight may glimpse up to 12 under good conditions. But why this cluster has been cited by more than one early people as having seven members remains a mystery." Sources: 1. From Phenomenica "Gleaming Venus to Have Rendezvous With Seven Sisters on Tuesday" written in April, 2012.: < > Accessed on July 13, 2012. 2. From Wikipedia "Pleiades": < >, Accessed on July 13, 2012. 3.

Fuji Heavy Industries, < >, Accessed on July 13, 2012. Have more questions? Need to know what other stuff means? Check out the Technical Schmecnical tag or try our FAQ .

Question: Which car company has the six brightest stars of the constellation Pleiades as its badge?
Answer: SUBARU